Managing Well - Those Who Differ

To put it bluntly: effective leadership in an organization or the church or the civic square –includes the capacity to hear form and learn from those who differ from us. Insecure authoritarian leaders cannot tolerate a difference of opinion and have lost the capacity for continuous learning. But effective leaders listen to those who differ with them; they welcome the dissident or divergence voice. They do not need flattery or acquiescence. They actually value it when someone sees the issue or question or problem from another perspective.

Effective leaders do not equate power with truth: yes, they have power but the do not assume that power means they have ultimate knowledge and understanding. I am echoing here a powerful insight from Vaclav Havel, “The Power of the Powerless”, published by the Czechian dissident in 1978. Havel challenges and confronts the weakness and vulnerability of an authoritarian leader: they do not tolerate diversity of opinion; no one can differ with them. They assume power and truth are one.

But effective leaders are not threatened by contrary voices. They do not presume to think they are the smartest one in the room.

Rather, they actually seek out voices and perspectives that will challenge assumptions and perspectives. An effective leader has epistemic humility – a resolve to listen and learn and the willingness to change one’s mind when the circumstances warrant it.

In politics, they are eager to listen to and learn from their political opponent; they do not demonize those of another political party or persuasion. There is always a desire to ask: how did you come to your position and what it is that you see and understand that has informed your approach to this or that question or policy?

In the church, we eschew authoritarianism or any inclination to assume that as the leader we are in the know and we have the final word. Rather, we are constant learners. We know that equaling power with truth is merely the first step towards a cult. And so as soon as we move into religious leadership we resolve from the beginning to be always in learning mode — including learning from those who differ with us.

And in organizational leadership we listen and learn and resolve to be attentive to those who might see the situation or the issue from a different vantage point. High school principals are always listening to staff and welcome a difference of opinion. University board of trustees – same principle: they may well come to an issue with clarity of conviction, but they listen twice as much as they speak and they actually are particularly attentive and responsive to those across the table who might differ from them. They are not threatened or irritated or frustrated with a difference of opinion.

And whether it is a college board or trustees or the elders’ board of a local church, the chair of the board plays a vital role and actually asks the question: before we move to a vote is there anyone who wants to provide a different view on this? We do not assume that unanimity means we have it right; the minority voice might be crucial to getting us to the very best resolution of the issue at hand.

Bottom line: we welcome the minority voice in the church and in the public square. In the end, the minority voice needs to defer to the actions taken by leadership and by the board or the populace in an election; but along the way this voice is essential to the process of coming to a wise course of action. We welcome the diversity of opinion; we give space — respectful space — to those who differ with us. We are always ready and eager to learn and able to change our minds on something as the circumstances warrant. Effective leadership welcomes constructive criticism, diversity of viewpoints and therefore respects the minority voice as an essential contribution to the conversation.